Design for context
Good user experience is never on the right side of any equation. In fact, the experience is ever-changing due to the volatility of contexts.
In an ideal world, the designer works in the field. They are invisible, shadowing the user, observing what the user does, even better reading what’s going on in the user’s head.
In the actual world, not only do designers often work from Home or Office, they sometimes have limited access to the users.
Why design for context
Design should start with a lot of whys. Designers should be able to answer a lot of whys. To start, I will answer why designing for context.
- Behaviors are impacted by contexts.
What users like or don’t like can change as contexts change. The same screen brightness works great before bed but is hugely painful for early morning eyes. - Great UX is personalized.
A personalized experience is tailored to the way we go through our lives. It puts users at the center, evolving around what users want at any given moment. In order to perfect personalization, we need to understand our humans in their contexts. - Your users are not QA testers.
People interact with your product differently depending on their environment, device types, or mood. They are not QA testers who use features step by step according to plan. - Context is what actually happened.
An activity log, a Hotjar screen recording seems like magic that brings you to the user’s screen. But no, you don’t know why users do what they do until you understand the context they are in.
For example, Spotify learned that they cannot assume users like a playlist just because they didn’t skip a song. There can be many reasons — they might just be doing chores and were not bothered to skip.
The same user, using the same device with the same settings, but at different times during the day can have completely different experiences. When we design, we need to think big, as in the bigger context.
Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context — a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.
- Eero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect
How to design for context
To appreciate contexts, we need to first gather as much info as we can — the environment, the platform, the mood, etc., then design with contexts in mind, and in the end, see how the design works in the real world and continuously refine our solutions.
Contextual design process
During the requirements gathering stage, as designers, we need to push for field research. Below is the “Contextual Design Process” by Interaction Design Foundation. As shown, starting with contextual inquiry, we talk to specific users in their actual environment.
Then we analyze the research data to create models to guide the following design process.
Questions to ask
There is an in-depth article — Designing with context by Cennydd Bowles, where he talked about the seven flavors of context. And in order to understand each context, what questions should you ask? Below is a quick view:
Device context
- What devices will this product be used on?
- How about in a year’s time? Three? Five?
- What can those devices do? What can’t they do?
- etc.
Environmental context
- Will the site be used indoors or outdoors?
- Should weather conditions affect my design?
- etc.
Time context
- Are there particular times of day that our app is best suited for?
- What else is happening then?
- etc.
Activity context
- Do users have simple tasks to fulfill or a more complex network of activities?
- Are these activities or tasks digital, or do they support real-world activities?
- etc.
Individual context
- Can we use any stated preferences to tailor the system to an individual user?
- Is it appropriate to let users explicitly state preferences for this interaction?
- etc.
Location context
- Do users have location-specific needs?
- Will access to the user’s location improve the service my app can offer?
- etc.
Social context
- Will the app be used in solo, private contexts, or in public?
- Are there ways to reduce any risk of embarrassment or public discomfort for the user?
- Etc.
Again, the questions above are stolen from the great article: Designing with context by Cennydd Bowles
What after
After the design is out there, used by users in real contexts, it’s time to sit back and see how it goes. Now you will finally know if it works.
Be aware that even after all the work you have done, things might still not work in the end. As mentioned, context is ever-changing. Facial recognition was great but then everybody starts to wear a mask. It became a pain compared to fingerprint unlock.
There is no right solution, only good solutions for the current situation. Always keep yourself up to date on your user’s context, and constantly refine your design solutions.
